In "Why the West Rules--For Now" the author mentions that the East (Chinese) invented pottery centuries before the West, an invention which he claims was driven by the need to cook rice. But how were the Chinese cooking rice before pottery? Have they found evidence of baskets and heating stones similar to what the Native Americans used for cooking?
I have some serious doubts about the claim the author is making here for two reasons:
The invention of pottery actually predates the domestication of rice. Earliest evidence for pottery in China go back as far as 20,000 years ago whereas rice was domesticated only approximately 8,000 years ago.
While I can't find a specific source for this next one for the moment being, millet was more important and more prevalent than rice in early Chinese history/prehistory. And so I have to ask, why would the Chinese invent pottery for rice instead of millet if millet was a more important grain? I am suspicious that the author here is making a claim without evidence or background knowledge if he wasn't even aware of millet and spoke only about rice.
Sources:
Remnants of an Ancient Kitchen Are Found in China, at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/science/oldest-known-pottery-found-in-china.html?_r=0
Molina et al. (2011) Molecular evidence for a single evolutionary origin of domesticated rice, at http://puruggananlab.bio.nyu.edu/pdf/PNAS-2011-Molina-8351-6.pdf